MACM at World Credit Congress

Josef Busuttil, director general of the Malta Association of Credit Management (MACM), participated in the second World Credit Congress, held last month at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.

During his presentation, Mr Busuttil suggested that the credit management function should contribute to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the market. He said following the recent credit crisis, the role of the credit practitioners should be enhanced.

Credit people should be more involved in the strategic decisions taken by the management team, as they are the ones responsible for sound cash flow - the lifeblood of business organisations.

With the aid of practical sessions, he explained how the credit function can provide more value to the organisation by being more customer-focused. He also described the credit function as a 'sales' function and enlightened the delegates with skilful strategies and tactics that would help them improve customer service.

Mr Busuttil emphasised that sustaining long-term customer relationship is the name of the game in today's turbulent times and the credit function should not be seen as a cost centre but a dynamic function that can contribute to the organisations' profit.

On the eve of the conference, Mr Busuttil together with Tim Paulsen, a proficient credit management consultant from Canada, delivered a presentation to the other speakers and trainers, whereby it was pointed out that it is time for credit practitioners to be more innovative and focus more on the customers' needs at a profit.

Other credit experts who contributed to the success of this congress hailed from the US, Canada, UK, Mexico, Ireland, Brazil, Belgium and Switzerland. The influential event was inaugurated by Alan Dukes, an Irish economist and politician and by former European Parliament president Pat Cox.

The second World Credit Congress was well-attended by delegates from 45 countries and was endorsed by the world's most renowned credit management organisations and associations, including MACM. The third World Credit Congress is being held in Sydney in 2011.

Full details of the congress can be found at www.creditcongress. com/2009/home.html.

MACM is a not-for-profit organisation, providing a central national organisation for the promotion and protection of all credit interest pertaining to Maltese businesses.

It represents the credit profession across all economic sectors and is a centre of expertise for all matters relating to credit management in Malta.

The association offers a range of services to local creditors, including, credit management information systems, credit management education, training, conferences, seminars, and lobbying activities. It is the ICM (UK)-accredited training centre for Malta.

MACM is a member of the Federation of European Credit Management Associations (FECMA) and the distributor of Graydon International Credit Reports in Malta.

For more information, visit www.macm.org.mt, e-mail info@macm.org.mt or call 2142 3638/9.